EVENTS
March 31-April 2. 2017
By Steve Hanson
So 31st March – 2nd April 2017 was
‘VapeCon2 KL’, this was Malaysia’s 3rd
Vape show and Vapouround’s first visit
to this incredible, wonderful, fascinating
Commonwealth country.
The first thing I noticed about Kuala
Lumpur (after the heat) was just how
friendly and helpful all the locals seemed
– and nothing was too much trouble for
the staff at the Seri Pacific hotel where we
stayed.
The hotel was only a few miles from the
world famous 1483 foot high Petronas twin
towers – which could be seen dominating
the skyline from the glass-walled lift of the
hotel as you descended and ascended
throughout the day.
108 ISSUE 11 VAPOUROUND MAGAZINE
The show itself was set at the fantastic
PWTC 85,000 square foot exhibition hall
on two levels – thankfully it was fully air
conditioned, as the temperature outside
never seemed to drop below a sweaty 37
centigrade.
I’d like to say that it went without a hitch,
but I can’t because on the Saturday the
local government had decided that any
products containing nicotine could not be
displayed to the public – so the nicotine
products had to be hastily removed; this
resulted in the show opening just over 6
hours late.
More than 200 brands were represented,
amongst the familiar names were Fantasi
& Nasty Juice, and every other stand
seemed to be in competition with each
other for the loudest music or shiniest car
wrap. Mango and pineapple flavours were
prevalent, and I would certainly say that
they seem to favour fruit e-juices rather
than cake and sweets.
The European TPD has no jurisdiction
in Malaysia, and although some local
regulations were mentioned, I can’t help
feeling that many manufacturers here are,
at least for now, potentially missing out on
a lucrative European export market.
Amongst the 31 million residents 38%
of the adult men are cigarette smokers,
(according to ‘The Sun Daily MY’) which
is significantly higher than normal for
such a commercially developed country
– European and UK Juice makers please
take note as there are lots of Malaysian
smokers just waiting to be converted.
In summary, if you get the chance to
travel the 6,500 miles or so to witness this
spectacular city I would recommend that
you jump at the chance, and if you arrive
next year I’ll guarantee that you’ll notice a
lot more people vaping than I did during
2017 – it’s a market just waiting to be fully
exploited by us all.